


the aurora of ados

by Tarredion



Series: Phanfiction advent 2019 [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Accident, Adventure, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Cliffhanger, F/M, Fluff and Angst, LITERALLY, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21717136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarredion/pseuds/Tarredion
Summary: Dan doesn't believe in magic. Nonetheless, something strange decides to happen in Arizona while he's on holiday there.
Relationships: Cornelia Dahlgren/Martyn Lester, Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: Phanfiction advent 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558750
Kudos: 6





	the aurora of ados

**Author's Note:**

> December 8th (second advent) part 1

_ A butterfly flapping its brittle wings in Arizona may set a series of events into motion which ends with a thousand human casualties on the other side of the world;  _ read the visible part of the sign. Dan let his hands graze across the protruding swirly lettering. The aged, hard wood and splinters pricked into his skin.

The sweltering sun shone down harshly from above, and his already clammy forehead made him eternally grateful for his decision to wear a cap. Another glittering drop of sweat rolled down his temple, and he wiped it discreetly with his free hand.

On his back Dan had hoisted a climber’s backpack, and with good reason. The three day hike he was making with the Lester brothers and Cornelia was hard work, not untypical for a trek in the Arizona desert.

The text on the sign was accompanied by a scratched and worn out set of posters. One detailed a  _ Phyciodes Tharos _ butterfly and the other showed an outdated map of a nearby cave system. A system of old mine tunnels and caves which began just a couple of meters away.

And which apparently was connected to supernatural activity and witchcraft in the area.

Dan didn’t want to find out if the caved-in darkness and claustrophobic stone cathedrals could sway his opinions on the existence of either of them.

Bouts of laughter echoing across the rocky landscape caught his attention. As he swiveled away from the sign he let his hand drop, and the movement triggered a small sharp pain’s journey up his arm. He winced. But when it faded immediately he pushed any concern out of his mind and set off down the hill to join the laughing happy voices of his travel companions and family. 

Phil pulls him into a side hug once he’s by his side. It’s just the four of them out in this part of the barren desert, after all, and any public barriers can be pushed aside without a fear of outing. Still there’s a lump in Dan’s throat as he gets warm arms around him, and he glances around at their surroundings. The anxiousness disappears, thankfully, when Phil plants a kiss on his cheek and nuzzles him with his head. Martyn fake gags at them and they all laugh as he walks ahead. 

“There’s a cave system nearby..” he mumbles into the crook of Phil’s neck. 

Cornelia puts her hands on her hips but smiles. “I suppose we could go and explore it once you two are done  _ canoodling _ .” The comment makes Phil blush furiously, and Dan giggles against his now red jawline, before planting a kiss of his own on his cheek.

“I suppose we can..”

“Then we’ll go on!” chants Martyn, from a bit further on the trail. Dan rolls his eyes at his ridiculousness, and then all three of them trek after him.

Pebbles crunched underneath their boots as they walked on and on. The sun barely sank lower, however, for they soon reached a belt of cliffs and rocks running perfectly parallel with the eastern horizon, and once they had walked around them to find the mouth of the cave, the western. There they also found a slight slope, leading down into a dent in the formation. The rocks and ground in the area was reddish brown, more muted the further down the slope you went.

Dan felt fear flare up within him when they walked into the shade of the rocks, and he grabbed Phil’s hand rather violently for comfort. He got a glance of mild worry, but Dan just squeezed his hand, and so did Phil back at him. The fear wasn’t boiling over. Yet. 

The rocks were smooth and flat about two meters up, informed Cornelia and Martyn. It made Dan want to run further from the place than he ever before, and instinct of being prey sparking and crackling deep within him.

Phil let go of his hand, though clearly rather reluctantly, and followed his brother and sister-in-law down the rest of the slope to the dent. Dan froze on the spot, tingles running up and down his spine. 

For what ended up feeling like hours but was only minutes he stood there watching, his feet gripped by the ground’s destructive grip, stuck in an endless mindloop.

Fairy lights in orange glow danced over the dusty rocks, explosions of fire and crackles setting off in his chest as well as his sight, dancing around the peaks and horizon, the pale sky ablaze. Dan was scared now. Really, really scared. An ocean swindling and treacherous threw itself around in his stomach.

Something about the place made him feel things. Something about the place made him  _ see  _ things.

A small tepid breeze tickles his chin and forehead, moving back his curls. Stars blue flew and burnt. Somebody’s voice whistles by his ear but it is distant.

There- again and again and again.

Finally he’s able to make any words and sense out of the crying whistles, words forming from the sounds.

“Dan would you like to come see this mar-”

And then the fabrics of time and the world ruptures. 

Blood pounds in Dan’s head. The pressure is too much.

He falls.

He falls and he falls.

Darkness and dust flies around him in a tornado of impending death, which he’ll hopefully resist. He tries. Claws dig into his skin, the world around him flashing by in a blur.

The last thing he heard was the heart splicing cries from Martyn and Cornelia, echoing in the void his mind becomes.

The last thing he saw was Phil, his soulmate, life companion and boyfriend, widen his bright blue eyes in desperation, blown over by dust and the image crumbling.

The last thing he felt was the clammy skin of their fingertips grazing as they tried to reach out for one another. 

And then he fell into descending darkness, succumbing to sleep.

.

.

.

.

.

But it wasn’t the last thing in his life. 

Silence danced in the darkness, red pounding wind creeking the cracks in the stone walls, and the unfortunate tomb had its purpose thrown away haphazardly as he rustled awake.

The spot he’d landed in dug nails into his stiff back, the silence whirled around in the cramped space. Dan felt sick and rather thirsty at the same time. At first he was paralyzed, but after thinking of Phil for a few more seconds he gained enough strength to push himself up. He’ll see his soulmate again, that’s what soulmates do, and the world be damned because he’ll get through any trials. He won’t die trying.

Dan lets his tired eyes scan the cathedral the rocks have formed around him. Shadows linger in every corner, flying across the cracks in the rough, natural walls. Pillars had risen in the tumult, hard and sharp edges spiralling upwards and supporting the roof above. Death and life resting on their shoulders.

It took his breath away, and then something else did. His eyes didn’t linger on anything, for his gaze was sucked right by a strange symbol on the opposite wall.

A neon violet glow spirals out of the spiral shape, a faint buzzing escaping the cracks. 

_ Maybe magic does exist down here… _

His hand automatically reaches out for it, shaking. He takes a deep breath and then touches the cold rock. A surge fires through his body in a strange manner, and on top of not being able to put his finger on what it could be, it makes his shoulders rise and a course stream of energy course his veins.

Something’s not just strange here. It makes him determined to get out of the small space. And it seems like the caves themselves want to help.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Not inspired by real events nor does it have any cultural connections - unless you'd count the back of my mind as a society. Thanks for reading!


End file.
